Uber President Jones Quits Amid Turmoil and Search for COO

Uber Technologies Inc. President is quitting after less than a year, amid multiple controversies engulfing the ride-hailing company.

The scandals range from allegations of sexual harassment and a toxic work culture to the combative behavior of Chief Executive Officer Travis Kalanick. After Bloomberg published a video on Feb. 28 showing Kalanick berating an Uber driver, he said he would seek “leadership help” and was planning to hire a chief operating officer. The plan was viewed internally as an effective demotion for Jones, who was hired last year as president of ridesharing and second in command, a person familiar with the matter said.

Jones decided to leave because the long string of controversies are not what he signed on for when he left his post as chief marketing officer at Target Corp., according to Recode, which reported his departure earlier Sunday. He’s not leaving the closely held company because of the COO search, the website reported. Jones’s purview included Uber’s brand, which took a beating during his short tenure.

“We want to thank Jeff for his six months at the company and wish him all the best,” Uber wrote in an emailed statement.

Uber has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons this year. The San Francisco-based ride-hailing app was accused of undermining a taxi strike against U.S. President Donald Trump’s immigration ban in January. Kalanick stepped down from Trump’s business advisory council after a #DeleteUber movement began to pick up steam. In February, a former employee wrote a blog post about her experiences of sexual harassment while working for the company, and Uber is also facing a lawsuit from Alphabet Inc.’s autonomous car company Waymo for allegedly stealing trade secrets.